Tainter/Menomin

[DaRangeFinder]

Just wondering if anyone has ever fished Tainter Lake and Menomin Lake in Menominie, WI for muskies. I have heard that fish in these lakes are few in numbers but reach large sizes. Any info on these lakes would help.

[Nick Kuhn]

It probably isn't worth the effort. Since the DNR does not classify either of those as a muskie water, it means they have never sampled any during their studies. While certainly possible that some have washed downstream from Rice Lake, the numbers would be very low.

And just to confirm my suspicion I looked through roughly 1000 posts (pertaining to strictly those lakes) dating back to 2002. On Menomin, no posts regarding any caught muskies, or even about ever having one on. At best there is anecdotal posts regarding a few that hang out near the dam around the spawn. For Tainter, I've seen a picture of one allegedly caught there. However no posts of any catches, 1 post saying he got one boatside before losing it, and 1 post suspicious that it was a muskie that straightened out a hook. If there was any reasonable number of fish there, given how much they are fished, there would likely be a good number of "look what I accidentally caught" posts, but that simply isn't the case.

[Cooter]

I haven't and won't fish either of them for muskies - while there are probably a couple in each and possibly big I like my odds elsewhere.

[mroyten]

Hey Range Boy, if I were you I'd contact the local bait shops in that area and question them for the best answer or go to a local Muskies Inc. meeting and ask around. That fishery is connected to the Chip river and we know that system holds fish.

[Nick Kuhn]

Hey Range Boy, if I were you I'd contact the local bait shops in that area and question them for the best answer or go to a local Muskies Inc. meeting and ask around. That fishery is connected to the Chip river and we know that system holds fish.

Those are part of the Red Cedar system, which eventually drains into the Chip. The dam on Menomin is quite large so no fish can make it up that. There may be some below the dam however.